Valve confirms no subsidies for Steam Machine, pricing to match PC builds
The Zen4 and RDNA3 based compact gaming PC announced by Valve has been on the headlines ever since the system was announced. The specs which were more common to see 3 years ago will be used by a compact PC which would hopefully cost less than epxctged.
Valve has now confirmed that the new Steam Machine will not be sold at a loss, which rules out console-style subsidized pricing. In an interview with SkillUp, Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais said the device is “more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market” and that the company is not planning to “eat a big loss” to grow market share. That statement follows an earlier comment from Valve hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat, who described pricing as “really competitive” compared to building a similar PC at home, implying it will track PC component costs rather than console RRPs.
Recently Linus Tech Tips shared that they floated a potential $500 price point in front of Valve staff, the reaction reportedly suggested this figure was not realistic. Combined with reports of DRAM price increases from Samsung, the market now expects the Steam Machine to land somewhere in the $800–$900 range, without the cushion of platform subsidies that Sony and Microsoft use for PlayStation and Xbox hardware.
SkillUp: But it’s not going to be a sort of subsidized device, like, Valve is not going into this thinking we’re going to eat a big loss on this so that we can grow market share or category or anything like that, correct?
Pierre-Loup Griffais: No, it’s more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market. Obviously, our goal is for it to be a good deal at that level of performance. And then you have features that are actually really hard to build if you are making your own gaming PC from parts. Things like the small form factor, the noise level that we achieved, or lack thereof, is really impressive and we are excited that people are going to find out how quiet this thing is. But also some integration features like HDMI CEC. The Bluetooth and wireless work that we’ve done, the four antennas, the very deliberate design so that you can have a great experience with four Bluetooth controllers.
That price band would put Valve’s cube-style SteamOS system well above current console deals. PlayStation 5 launched at $499, and during Black Friday the PS5 Digital Edition in the US dropped to $399.
Valve is instead banking on PC-class performance, small form factor, low noise, and tight integration features such as HDMI-CEC support and multi-controller wireless tuning to justify the higher tag for Steam users who want a living-room box rather than a traditional DIY rig. Users will literaly be able to run any operating system they wait on this system, which is not something one can expect from a gaming console.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | Steam Machine |
| Picture |  |
| CPU | Semi-custom AMD Zen 4, 6 cores / 12 threads, up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP |
| GPU | Semi-custom AMD RDNA3, 28 Compute Units, 2.45 GHz sustained clock, 110W TDP |
| Memory | 16GB DDR5 system RAM + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM |
| Storage Options | 512GB NVMe SSD 2TB NVMe SSD Expandable via high-speed microSD slot |
| Power Supply | Integrated AC power supply (110–240V) |
| Wireless Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E (2×2), Bluetooth 5.3 with dedicated antenna |
| Steam Controller Support | Integrated 2.4 GHz wireless adapter (supports up to four controllers) |
| Display Outputs | DisplayPort 1.4: Up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K @ 60Hz, HDR, FreeSync, daisy-chain HDMI 2.0: Up to 4K @ 120Hz, HDR, FreeSync, CEC |
| USB Ports | 2 × USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (front) 2 × USB-A 2.0 (rear) 1 × USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (rear) |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet |
| LED Lighting | 17 individually addressable RGB LEDs (status and custom effects) |
| Dimensions | 152 mm (H, 148 mm without feet) × 162.4 mm (D) × 156 mm (W) |
| Weight | 2.6 kg |
| Operating System | SteamOS 3 (Arch-based) |
| Desktop Environment | KDE Plasma |
Source via Wccftech
